Matt Maroon: Advice for Y Combinator Interviewees

http://mattmaroon.com/?p=283

by immad • 19 years ago

27 13 19 years ago

mattmaroon.com

ajkates• 19 years ago

That's all certainly good advice. Thanks for taking the time share it with us.

Speaking of advice though, a little padding on the left margin of your page wouldn't hurt...

rms4• 19 years ago

>I got asked whether I was worried about the mafia. Seriously.

Seriously, the US Government is much worse. Unless you believe, like I do, that a lot of organized crime in the USA is controlled by the CIA, in which case it is the same thing.

rms4• 19 years ago

You guys didn't see the CIA plane The Web 2.0 caught smuggling drugs about a week ago? Remember that Bin Laden was on our side at one point.

anamax• 19 years ago

Govt and states have persistent interests. They do not have persistent allies.

corentin• 19 years ago

In any case, the State is an organized entity that uses its legal monopoly of violence to steal your money; it's like a mafia, just much bigger.

blader• 19 years ago

That is excellent, excellent advice. I wish I could have read that last interview round.

rms4• 19 years ago

make it two rounds ago for me

DanielBMarkham• 19 years ago

I liked the advice, but I couldn't help feeling a little peeved by the continuing "yc news readers are a cult" thread.

I mean, come on, there are obviously a lot of people who have big dreams and look at YC as an easier way of getting to them, and yes, deadlines and tests bring out the neurosis and suck-ups in people, but this talk of cult-dom ALSO has a strange narcissistic quality about it which is just as bad.

If I thought the board was too cultish I wouldn't participate. Geesh -- on one side we get the hype of how great YC is, how it's all milk and goodness. On the other side there's a significant sour grapes contingent. For those who have already made it through or have an interview, congrats! For those who have not, it's not the end of the world! If this site wants to be useful to the hacker community, the board has to be, well, useful. I understand it got a little freaky over the past couple of days, but having people tell me I'm part of a cult is not a way to keep me around. I'm here for the other hackers -- YC is just the facilitator for that.

michelson• 19 years ago

Here's another piece of advice (self-serving, I'll be the first to admit) -- work at a YC startup. you can meet all the YC people, including Paul. There are a lot of YC parties and events that you'll be able to go to. Make a good impression and get good recommendations from people already in YC, and you'll be in a great position to get into YC a little while later.

Now the shameless plug -- Scribd is looking for more people. Here's our jobs page:

http://www.scribd.com/static/jobs

Check it out.

damon• 19 years ago

Great advice. What exciting times for the hackers accepted to interview with YC! Best of luck to all. Now listen to Matt and get working on your demo!

cellis• 19 years ago

Maybe this is a retarded question, but what is Matt Maroon's startup? A quick search on google turned up nothing.

rms4• 19 years ago

Not public but you can probably hunt it down if you read the archives of his poker blog which is definitely worth reading if you like poker. The startup has a business model and a very viable one at that.

bootload• 19 years ago

"... >I got asked whether I was worried about the mafia. Seriously. ..."

Gambling related?

Matt Maroon: Advice for Y Combinator Interviewees

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